With a membership that includes over 82,000 active competitors across 29 breeds and disciplines, it’s no surprise that the US Equestrian rulebook spans many pages and updating it can be a complex process. What you may not know is that you don’t have to be a member of our board to make your voice heard when it comes to adding new rules or modifying those already on the books.  

Here are a few ways you can be part of the process:  

• Attend a town hall. We recently released a schedule of town halls focused on horse welfare, which we’ll be holding at key horse shows across the country in 2025. These events will be led by US Equestrian staff panelists and affiliate organization representatives when possible. The goal is to generate open discussion between the Federation, trainers, and competitors about existing and possible future rules  -- both those contemplated by US Equestrian, and those suggested by the audience.  
   
  Curious to hear what you’re missing? We’ll have a monthly recap of the ideas discussed at recent town halls in our Equestrian Weekly newsletter.  
   
  We will be adding more dates to the schedule for the winter and will host  online town halls toward the end of the year for those who can’t make it to an in-person event.  
   

• Join a committee. Our committees are involved in every part of governance and administration at US Equestrian, and we welcome involvement from amateurs and professionals of all different backgrounds. These groups review proposed rule changes and their feedback is crucial to determining whether a proposed change advances onto the next step. You can find a full list of councils and committees here and fill out this interest form if you’d like to join one of more committees. The interest forms are considered when filling vacancies on committees and when populating committees during the regular cycle. 
   

• Propose a rule and provide comment on proposed rule changes. Any member can submit a rule change, request for a presidential modification, or provide comments on proposed rule changes. To learn more about how to submit a proposed rule change and comment on proposed rule changes, go to the Rule Changes webpage on our website. 
   

• Email us. We want to hear your thoughts on our rules and processes, so we set up the [email protected] inbox to make sure we can route any questions or concerns to the right department.